Description

Wen xuan (Selected literature) is one of the earliest collections of Chinese poetry. It includes verse from the Qin dynasty (221–207 BC), the Han dynasty (206 BC–220 AD), and later. It was compiled around 520 during the Southern and Northern Dynasties (420–589) by Xiao Tong (501–31), the eldest son of Emperor Wu of Liang (but who died before ascending to the throne), and a group of scholars he had assembled. Many annotated editions of the Wen xuan appeared after Xiao Tong’s death, of which the ...